Powerslave
by AeonFrodo
Summary: The group encounter a mysterious boy who seems troubled, which XANA uses to his advantage. Can the group help this problem boy? Set between the episodes Wreck Room and Skidbladnir.
1. Chapter 1: Mr Mysterious

**Disclaimer**: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of Moonscoop, France 3, and Canal J. The custom-created characters NOT in the actual series and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with Moonscoop, France 3, Canal J, or any of their affiliates. No copyright infringement is intended.

* * *

**Powerslave**

**Chapter 1: Mr. Mysterious**

Recess at Kadic always meant time for the kids to chat about issues and other things within their group of friends. However, one group of friends thought it was about time they took their mind off the issues that were currently pressing them. Not only did they have schoolwork to worry about, but were needed to save the world from an ambitious Supercomputer A.I.

The group of friends were lying low in the Gymnasium of Kadic Academy, playing indoor soccer. It was so that Ulrich Stern, wasn't going to be surrounded by girls obsessing over a sport he was very skilled in. The group suggested to play soccer so that the clone William can at least learn how to play decently at a sport after his abysmal performance at playing table tennis in the Recreation Room. Even though it was quite relaxing for Ulrich to play soccer, the rest of the group felt it was another activity associated with Lyoko to defeat XANA.

Jeremie threw the ball at Ulrich's feet, where Ulrich blocked it with the inside of his left foot, making the ball come to a stop. He quickly glanced at clone William, then stared at the goals which Odd was guarding.

"Right William, ready to kick a goal?" Ulrich enquired.

"I wouldn't be able to kick the goal, otherwise I'll be kicking at thin air," clone William answered.

Ulrich slapped his head, thinking how to rephrase his question to clone William. He had to remember that clone William took words literally, meaning that he wouldn't understand what anybody was trying to say to him.

While Ulrich was thinking of his new question, Yumi, who was standing on the sidelines, noticed Ulrich's annoyed expression. She walked up to Jeremie and Aelita, were working on Jeremie's laptop on something.

"Hey Jeremie, can you try to fix clone William's speech? It's already hard enough for him to blend in, let alone have someone teach him how to play soccer," Yumi asked.

"That's not important now Yumi. Right now, I believe building a vehicle that allows us to travel through the Digital Sea is more important now," Jeremie responded.

Yumi sighed, and looked back on the field. Odd noticed that she turning her attention to floor. He could only respond by shrugging, having no idea what he could do to help. Yumi really wished that she could just have a rest from covering clone William whenever he says something incredibly stupid to his peers.

Finally, Ulrich came up with his reworded question, which he asked clone William, "Can you kick the ball into the net?"

"Yes," clone William stated.

Ulrich gently kicked the ball to clone William. Remembering from what he was taught earlier, he stomped on the ball to put it to a complete stop. The clone smiled, happy that he was actually able to do something of use to the team.

However, clone William's happiness didn't last for long, as he attempted to kick the ball. His kick was way too hard, which propelled his body in the air, where he promptly fell and landed on his back. Odd cracked up laughing, as William looked like a clown while he did that. But Ulrich couldn't join in; he was more frustrated that William could not do something any person would be able to do quite easily.

Ulrich walked up to William as he picked himself up off the ground. The brunette grabbed the ball, and dropped it to his feet. He looked at William to make sure he was paying attention.

"William, watch me kick this into the back of the net," Ulrich ordered.

As soon as Ulrich was confident that William was staring at him, he took three steps back from the ball. Ulrich gazed up at Odd, standing at the centre of the net, in front of the goal line. Then he focused on the ball, and ran up to it.

With little momentum Ulrich kicked the ball; however, its velocity was very fast. Odd outstretched his hands in the direction the ball was heading, but it had bended away from him and landed right in the bottom right corner of the net.

"Damn! That was a good shot!" Odd exclaimed.

"Thanks Odd," Ulrich stated, and turned to clone William, "And that's how you kick a ball into the back of the net."

While Ulrich was speaking to clone William, Yumi looked up from Jeremie's laptop and spotted a boy running across the gym. He looked about Hiroki's age, but was taller than him. He had longish brown hair and wore a black shirt with white sleeves underneath, blue jeans and white runners. Yumi was relieved he just entered the room after clone William failed a simple kick.

However, the thought that boy was a normal kid soon faded from Yumi's mind as he ran towards the soccer goal. Yumi grew suspicious as her brown eyes kept track of the boy's moves.

Suddenly, as the boy approached the net while the rest of the guys were unaware of his presence, he snatched the soccer ball from the corner and bolted to the closest door. Yumi saw this with her own eyes and warned the guys that their ball was being stolen.

Ulrich abruptly ended his conversation with clone William and sprinted after the boy. The boy swang the door open and quickly moved outside the gym, knowing that he was being chased by one of the most athletic guys in Kadic Academy. Ulrich followed him outside, spotting from the corner of his right eye that the thief was heading towards the forest.

The boy was hoping he would lose Ulrich in the forest. He darted through the clear areas and weaved between the trees, hoping that he would reduce Ulrich's speed and get away from him.

He soon reached a suspicious clearing in the forest and scanned the area out of curiosity. There were three trees that he could easily pick out that made a large triangle, which meant that something could help to lose Ulrich if it were at the centre of these trees. He checked the centre and noticed that the ground was lower there than the rest of the forest. The boy quickly realised it was his ticket to escape.

Before he could see what that dent truly revealed, he felt the soccer ball pop out of his right arm. He spun around, and to his horror, Ulrich was behind him, holding the soccer ball up high with his right hand. The boy gritted his teeth, knowing it was impossible to reach up to the height of the ball since Ulrich was taller than him.

"Hey kid, try playing with kids your own age. I'm sure they would have a soccer ball somewhere. And don't steal our ball again, or I'll let the teachers know what happened here today," Ulrich stated.

The boy growled, angry of the short lecture Ulrich gave him. Driven by his anger, he threw a punch at Ulrich's ribs and immediately pushed him back afterwards, in an attempt for Ulrich to drop the soccer ball. However, Ulrich kept his balance and held the ball close to his chest to avoid dropping it.

Knowing that nothing was going to separate Ulrich from the soccer ball, the boy ran away, running towards the school. Ulrich turned around, watching the boy disappear from the woods, wondering what was wrong with him. He felt that in some way, this boy had issues, either at school or at home.

He made an exasperated sigh, frustrated that the boy didn't want to talk to him at all. Ulrich at least, wanted to know what that boy's problem was. But that would remain a mystery to him.

Ulrich suddenly felt a sharp pain in his ribs, and clutched that area with his spare hand. He was surprised to feel such pain soon after the punch, but he quickly recovered from it and jogged out of the forest. Although, it appeared that boy really packed a punch.

_Okay, I need to find out who that boy is, and what his problems are. I have a feeling I won't be seeing the last of him_.


	2. Chapter 2: Going Under

**Powerslave**

**Chapter 2: Going Under**

The boy returned to his dormitory room in a rush. After being defeated by Ulrich so easily he needed his time alone. He didn't have a roommate in his room, so he could spend all the time in the world in there. Although, recess was ending pretty soon.

Sitting on his bed, he slammed his fist on the pillow, frustrated that he never got his way with everyone. He doesn't have friends that he can trust, and most especially, he cannot trust his family.

Suddenly, as he was relaxing, the door opened, revealing a person he was not in the mood to speak to. He sprung up onto his feet and backed away from the person, staring them directly in the eye. The person was a much older version of himself, as the boy could envision himself to be looking like that man. That man, was his father.

"What are you doing here Dad?" the boy demanded.

His father advanced forwards, frightening the boy, who continued to back away. The man, who could see the boy's fear, felt empathetic, and went down on one knee.

"Look kid, I'm not here to hurt you," the man stated.

"That's what he always says to my Mum, but he ends up hurting her anyway!" the boy retorted.

"I'm not your Dad, kid. I may have taken his appearance, but I am nothing like him," the man reassured.

"Then prove it," the boy proclaimed.

"I haven't slapped you yet, haven't I?"

Usually, the boy's father would greet him with a slap, rather than a simple hello. With that point in mind, the boy took a few steps closer to the man, feeling that he could trust him.

"So, why are you here?" the boy asked.

"I'm here to give you what you want, but first, you have to help me," the man answered.

"Help you with what?"

"This."

All of a sudden, the man transformed into black smoke before the boy's blue eyes. The boy grew terrified, and backed away until his back hit the desk behind him. The boy's eyes were fixated onto the smoke, circulating in front of him.

Then, like a bullet out of a gun, it moved into the boy's mouth. Suffocating, he fell to the ground, coughing loudly. He held his stomach as the smoke consumed his body, doing his best to resist it.

When the bell to end recess tolled, his world was covered in darkness. And even though he felt like he could move, he could do nothing to control those movements.

* * *

The next class for the kids was swimming, where they walked to the local swimming pool to participate in aquatic activities. On this special occasion, two class year levels, the eighth and sixth graders, were swimming in the pools to learn skills in the water.

The eighth grade had more difficult activities than the younger grade, but it wasn't something they couldn't do. While the sixth grade easily went through their activities without a hitch.

After the class swimming activities were over, Jim announced that they had free time in the water, providing that they stay in the pool unless they were switching pools, jumping off the diving board or need to go to the bathroom. Most of the kids celebrated by splashing each other or diving off the diving board, enjoying what free time they had before leaving and going to the next class.

However, Ulrich was concerned about his injury more than ever, as a disgusting shade of yellow appeared on his abs. He didn't want to worry his friends that he was hurt by the thief they met earlier, especially if XANA was going to attack today. Somewhat though, he did want to tell someone about it. He didn't know why he felt that way, but he assumed he wanted that burden off his shoulders.

As he was deep in thought, Odd swam in front of him. Then suddenly an idea hit him. He grabbed Odd's left wrist, stopping him from swimming and pulled him over to the edge of the pool.

"Hey, what was that for? I was just showing off to Aelita how to do the perfect freestyle stroke," Odd snapped.

"Can you cover for me?" Ulrich asked.

"What for?"

"I want to talk to Yumi and I don't want to get spotted by Jim."

"Oh, I see. Don't worry; I understand what it feels like to be in love. Go ahead."

"Odd, we're just friends. That's all."

Ulrich pushed himself out of the pool as he heard Odd's response, "Yeah right!" Ulrich ignored him and walked to the seat where he placed his bag. He grasped his mobile phone once he placed his hand in the bag and quickly dialled Yumi's number. He knew Yumi had a spare period during this time of day, so she won't be told off by any of the teachers if she had her mobile phone out.

While the phone was ringing Yumi's, he checked whether he could see Jim looking in his direction. Fortunately, he spotted Jim supervising the line of kids who wanted to dive off the ten metre board.

"Hello?"

Ulrich instantly recognised Yumi's voice on the other side of the phone, relieved she answered his call.

"Hey Yumi. Uh… how are you?" Ulrich enquired.

"I'm good. Hey, how come you're calling in the middle of swimming? I doubt Jim would let you out of the pool," Yumi stated.

"I snuck out. Odd's just keeping an eye on him for me," Ulrich answered.

"Oh alright. So how are you?" Yumi asked.

"I'm alright, except…" Ulrich paused, looking down at his newly formed injury, "I think I'm bruised."

"How?"

"When I got the ball back from the kid, he punched me in the ribs and that area looks yellow, and it feels slightly painful to swim."

"Why didn't you tell us that earlier?"

"I didn't want you guys to worry about me. And besides, it's only a bruise."

In a lowered voice, Yumi questioned, "What if XANA attacked us today?"

"I better hope XANA doesn't see it," Ulrich whispered, and paused once again, "Sorry if I worried you."

"It doesn't worry me too much Ulrich. It's okay. Although, that kid seems really strong though, probably almost as strong as you."

"Yeah. I'm hoping I can find out what he's like and why he resorted to-"

"Hey Casanova, Jim's not preoccupied with the diving area anymore," Odd alerted.

"Sorry, I have to hang up. I'll see you later," Ulrich responded.

"See you at lunch."

Ulrich hung up and quickly placed the mobile phone back in his bag. As Jim looked in Ulrich's direction, Ulrich ran up and jumped into the pool, screaming as he was in mid air enjoying the brief adrenaline rush.

As Ulrich resurfaced, he heard Jim laughing. He spun around to face his P.E. teacher, wondering what he was finding hilarious.

Jim soon noticed Ulrich and shouted, "That's the spirit Stern!"

Ulrich shook his head as Odd swam up next to him, looking at Jim also. Odd gave Ulrich his wide smile, happy that Ulrich perfectly covered the fact he just broke a rule moments before.

Nearby, Aelita and Jeremie were relaxing at one of the edges of the pool, talking about happenings at school and other things. It was a first time in a while that they had a conversation not involving Lyoko and XANA, helping them enjoy their time at the pool.

However, something big was on Aelita's mind, which was the construction of their submarine that could travel through the Digital Sea in Lyoko unharmed by its environment. It was significant to Aelita, who believed that she may find her missing father, Franz Hopper and bring him back to Earth to finally reunite with him after twelve long years.

"How's the construction of the submarine going?" Aelita enquired.

"It's fantastic. With your help last night, the amount of time to complete it has been reduced greatly," Jeremie proclaimed.

"By how much?" Aelita asked.

Ulrich and Odd just swam in front of Jeremie and Aelita, where Jeremie thought it would be best if all were to hear when this submarine was completed.

"Hey guys, I've got big news for you!" Jeremie shouted.

The boys immediately stopped splashing each other and approached Jeremie and Aelita. Aelita was anxious to hear the news, even though it was good news.

"What is it Einstein?" Odd asked.

"It's about the progress of the submarine. It's going along greatly. In fact, it's going to be completed very soon," Jeremie stated.

"Can you give us a date?" Ulrich enquired.

"It's going to be fully operational in two days time," Jeremie answered.

"Wow that's great! We can finally search for my father," Aelita replied.

"And I can't wait to drive it!" Odd exclaimed.

"I doubt Einstein would let you drive it," Ulrich retorted.

"Why? You're not better than me at driving."

"Last time I checked, Aelita said you drove like a lunatic on your Overboard."

"Hey! That was so uncalled for!" Odd shouted, heaving water into Ulrich's face.

Ulrich responded with the same attack, and the roommates began their aquatic brawl. Aelita and Jeremie could only laugh, as they knew that they were pointlessly arguing between each other.

Soon enough, Ulrich and Odd turned their attention to their intelligent friends and gave them a taste of the chlorinated water of the pool. Both Jeremie and Aelita were taken by surprised and immediately countered their attack with another wave of water. The four friends were intensely involved in the water fight, even using tactics such as submerging themselves underwater to avoid the inevitable counterattack. Therefore, the person spraying the water on their opponent must use trickery to fool them.

However, as they were playing, Aelita spotted on the other side of the pool a boy that looked very similar to the thief that almost made it off with the soccer ball. That boy was wearing black board shorts with green lines down the sides of them. She felt that she was staring at the same boy from earlier, and felt the need to tell the rest of the group this.

"Guys, can we stop for a moment?" Aelita enquired.

The boys stopped a minute after Aelita spoke, slowing catching their breaths and wiping the water off their faces.

"What is it Princess?" Odd asked.

"Just look over there," Aelita stated, pointing in the direction where she noticed the boy, "He looks familiar, doesn't he?"

The boys looked over where Aelita was pointing, and there was the boy, sitting on a bench. He was looking over at the other pool opposite the pool the group were in. Despite that his back was turned, Ulrich instantly recognised him. Seeing his back most of the time during the chase, the boy's brown hair was very distinctive to Ulrich.

"I need to talk to this kid," Ulrich declared.

"Why? He's more trouble than he's worth Ulrich," Odd proclaimed.

"I just want to know what's the matter with him," Ulrich stated.

"We'll keep an eye out on you, just in case," Aelita responded.

Ulrich swam across the pool, keeping his head low to avoid being splashed or hit by a projectile. His eyes were focused on the boy, whose stare was fixated on something in the distance. He approached the edge of the pool, resting his arms on that edge. He looked up, surprised that the boy wasn't even looking the other way. It seemed unnatural to the fourteen year old soccer star, but did not feel like he was in any danger.

"Hey kid, are you alright?" Ulrich enquired.

The boy didn't respond back, causing Ulrich to wonder if it was something serious. Then again, sometimes Ulrich didn't answer his friends, but that was due to his introverted personality.

"Look, I'm not here to hurt you. I just want to try to understand you," Ulrich affirmed.

With those words, the boy turned his head to the side. Ulrich backed off. What he saw was the worse thing that could've possibly happened.

That boy was possessed by XANA. Ulrich had to swim away before the poor kid attacked. Although, he was afraid that his bruise was too noticeable and the possessed kid would see it.

As Ulrich was spinning away, the blue eyed boy leaped towards him. Ulrich felt the younger kid land on his back, and he immediately sunk, making a huge splash. Ulrich held his breath, hoping that he could hold out long enough to escape. He began kicking his legs and piercing his arms through the water to reach the surface. However, the XANA possessed boy quickly grabbed one of Ulrich's arms and pulled it back. Ulrich felt a sharp pain throughout his left shoulder, but kept on holding his breath, knowing if he didn't he would most likely drown. Ulrich continued fighting for his life, knowing that despite he was in huge danger, he felt like he was making progress towards the surface. The boy tried to push down Ulrich, but since he was only recently possessed, his strength was not equal to Ulrich's. Ulrich seemed to have the upper hand.

The possessed boy suddenly struck Ulrich's stomach. Even though the blow did not directly hit the bruise, Ulrich felt a thunderous pain throughout his body. It forced him to let go of his available oxygen, increasing his desperation to reach the surface. The child then pushed Ulrich in the back, sending him down towards the bottom of the pool. Ulrich quickly realised the kid now possesses superhuman strength, and knew he wouldn't last long without intervention.

Ulrich turned around, spotting the possessed kid burst through the water. XANA was determined to end him. There was no way he could avoid him, and he was rapidly running out of breath. Ulrich looked up, hoping for someone to save him, but there was no shadow covering the lights. He was running out of time.


	3. Chapter 3: Monster

**Powerslave**

**Chapter 3: Monster**

Suddenly, the XANA possessed boy was knocked off his direct path to Ulrich. Ulrich was surprised, thinking he would be finished. Immediately, he was lifted off the bottom of the pool and was quickly brought up to the surface. Ulrich took a huge breath of air, relieved that he could breathe oxygen once more. He looked to his left, and once again was flabbergasted. His saviour was no other than Jeremie Belpois, the least athletic boy in Kadic Academy. But there was no time to thank him.

The boys swam to the edge of the pool, where Odd and Aelita pulled them up from the water to avoid another aquatic battle with XANA's slave. Odd held up Ulrich, who was still recovering from the encounter.

"What the hell happened? How could you let a sixth grader almost drown you?" Odd demanded.

"That wasn't the kid who stole the soccer ball from us," Ulrich declared breathlessly, "The kid's been possessed by XANA."

"Great. We better head for the Factory right away," Jeremie stated, grabbing his swimming bag.

The group agreed, so they grabbed their bags and sprinted as fast as they could out of the centre, knowing the boy was gunning after them. Jim shouted at them, but they completely ignored it. Jim then faced the pool, where the boy surfaced. The XANA possessed kid scanned the area, and spotted the four friends running out of the complex. The child swam in the direction of the group, hoping to catch up to them. Jim immediately assumed that he was going to follow the four of them and ran to the edge the boy was likely to climb up out from.

Fortunately for the group, Jim reached the edge before the boy. The boy looked up, seeing that the P.E. teacher was obstructing his way. With one look in his eyes, Jim backed off, seeing the eye of XANA replacing the boy's eyes. It allowed the boy to climb up onto the floor, where his feet would finally be able to touch the ground again.

"Kid, you're not allowed to exit the pool yet. Remain here until-" Jim sternly stated.

The boy punched Jim in the stomach, sending him flying backwards. The rest of the kids who observed the event gasped. Some even reported it to the lifeguards who were on duty.

Once the lifeguards were aware, they sprinted to the boy's location to seize him for violating the rules. The XANA possessed boy spotted them from the corner of his eyes, and smirked in delight. Soon, the swimming complex would be engulfed in chaos.

As the group were sprinting back towards Kadic in only their swimming outfits and their bags with their clothes, Ulrich heard his phone ringing. He quickly unzipped his bag, grabbed his mobile and answered it.

"Hello, Ulrich here," Ulrich said.

"Hey Ulrich," Yumi's voice greeted him on the other side.

"Thank God you called, I was just about to call you," Ulrich responded.

"Wow. Anyway, if you have-"

"No time. XANA's attacking," Ulrich interrupted, "He possessed the boy who stole our soccer ball. And he seems really angry."

"Alright, I'll head for the Factory right away. I'll see you soon," Yumi replied.

She hung up just as Odd was shouting, "Ulrich's shirtless right now!"

Ulrich put his mobile back into his bag and rolled his eyes at Odd's immature suggestion. Of course Yumi couldn't have a crush on him, especially since they discussed that they could only be friends and _friends only_.

Ulrich ignored further thoughts about his relationship with Yumi and rushed to the Factory to stop XANA's attack. Seeing Ulrich get ahead of the rest of them, the group tried to keep up with him.

* * *

A few moments later, the foursome entered the Supercomputer Laboratory, seeing Yumi sitting at the Supercomputer. Jeremie ran to the Supercomputer, looking at the screen as Yumi was getting off the seat. Yumi was a little bit astonished that her friends didn't even have the time to change out of their swimming clothes. She wondered how fast the attack occurred and how they managed to get out of the swimming complex before they were at XANA's mercy.

Ulrich, Odd and Aelita decided it was best if they retreated back to the elevator, knowing that they'll be sent to Lyoko immediately once Jeremie sees the problem. Ulrich's mind was full of thoughts about the possessed child and how he would be feeling mentally that he's fighting people against his will.

"The activated tower is in the Ice Sector," Yumi informed.

"Right," Jeremie responded, taking his seat before the Supercomputer, "Hop into the elevator while I warm up the scanners."

Yumi nodded, and joined up with the rest of the group who were waiting for her. As Jeremie was typing away, Odd pressed the elevator switch to go down. The elevator doors slowly closed before the group, and they headed deeper into the Factory. Yumi glanced at Ulrich, who was still breathing heavily. His back was up against the wall, doing his best to recuperate himself. She also noticed the bruise Ulrich suffered earlier, and grew concerned whether XANA spotted it or not during the attack.

"Guys, did XANA attack you so quickly that you couldn't get changed?" Yumi asked.

"The attack was very unexpected, and Jeremie's super scan didn't pick it up," Aelita answered.

"You can tell that to Ulrich again," Odd quipped.

As the elevator stopped at their floor, Yumi faced Ulrich again, having a feeling that Ulrich was directly involved with the 'attack'. Ulrich averted his gaze from Yumi and stared straight ahead of him, where he could hear the elevator slowly opening its large door.

"What happened Ulrich?" Yumi demanded.

"That kid almost drowned me. I tried to speak to him but when I realised he was possessed by XANA it was already too late," Ulrich explained.

The elevator doors opened before the group once Ulrich finished explaining what happened. They walked towards the scanners, waiting their human participant to step between the narrow doors. Odd and Aelita immediately stepped into their scanners, while Yumi and Ulrich stared at each other, wondering who would occupy the last scanner. Yumi desired Ulrich to go, as he looked incredibly weak, so that he would regain his energy.

Jeremie was watching the two on surveillance, and immediately assumed that Ulrich told Yumi what happened at the pool. He thought also, that it would be best if Ulrich were to head to Lyoko before Yumi.

"Hey Ulrich, you should enter first. You'll feel better when you're on Lyoko," Jeremie reassured.

Ulrich nodded sheepishly and stepped into the scanner. Like on the elevator trip down, his back was rested against the scanner. He was amazed that he was still recovering, because he usually recuperates very quickly.

The scanner doors closed upon the trio, as Jeremie booted up the virtualization process. The scanners analysed the bodies of those who were in it, transferring their physical selves based on their subconscious to their Lyoko forms.

The process was almost complete, as Jeremie only needed to press one more button to send his friends to the digital world.

"Virtualization!"

* * *

Ulrich opened his eyes, feeling his energy returning to him immediately. He could only see the icy floor and ice sculptures around him. He looked over to his right, seeing his team mates in their Lyoko forms, looking as ready as ever to take care of the tower. Soon enough, he felt the ground shook behind him. He spun around, and saw Yumi, who was just virtualized onto Lyoko. She smiled; glad he was looking better than he was before.

"So Einstein, where is the tower?" Odd enquired.

As soon as he asked, the kids' respective vehicles appeared in front of them. Ulrich quickly hopped onto his Overbike while Odd jumped on his Overboard. The girls leaped onto the Overwing, with Yumi driving it.

"The tower is due East of your position. Deactivate the tower as fast as you possibly can," Jeremie ordered.

The group acknowledged their leader, and sped off to the East. Knowing how valuable time was in their missions, they needed to complete this mission fast before events at the swimming pool get way too out of hand.

This thought mainly pressed on Ulrich's mind, feeling that a return to the past would be costly to understanding the boy and strengthen XANA at the same time. He wanted to assist the boy, and if freeing him from XANA's grasp quickly would help him to achieve that then he was determined to give it a crack. Ulrich shifted to a higher gear, giving him a burst of speed which put him way ahead of his teammates. Yumi, Odd and Aelita were caught by surprise, never seeing Ulrich desiring to end off a XANA attack so quickly.

"Wow, what's gotten into Ulrich?" Aelita asked.

"I have no idea. Maybe he wants to race us to the tower," Odd jokingly responded.

"I doubt it. I think something else is driving him. And I'm worried if he gets too far ahead of us," Yumi answered.

With that statement, the rest of the group attempted to catch up to Ulrich's pace. However, as they seem to get closer to the tower, Ulrich seemed to be inching away from them. He was travelling incredibly fast on ground, with his determination sitting in the driver's seat of his Overbike.

Ulrich was also getting closer to the tower, which was approximately five kilometres away at least. But he also spotted some figures in the distance close by, one of which he truly did not want to see. He put the Overbike on its highest gear and shot through the air like a bullet. The figure, between the two Tarantulas, noticed Ulrich charging towards him. Instead of pulling his weapon out, he raised his hand before him and concentrated his power into his hand. Suddenly, a burst of smoke pierced through the air, heading directly to Ulrich.

Ulrich quickly spotted the dark smoke headed towards him, but he had no time to swerve. The smoke struck him fast, and was frozen in mid air. He desperately hang onto the handlebars of his Overbike, however, it was travelling at a tremendous velocity already. It wrestled free from Ulrich, and drove straight to one of the Tarantulas. The Tarantula moved as fast as it could, but the Overbike charged into its body, devirtualizing it immediately upon contact.

However, as much as Ulrich struggled to break the smoky hold, there was no way he could move to give him that opportunity. Then, he felt his body reeling towards the figure, certain that it was William, giving him more of an incentive to escape. He tried wriggling, but it wasn't helping at all. He was completely trapped, and there was nothing he could do. Worse, there was still a Tarantula standing that could easily take shots at Ulrich.

As soon as he was brought into the Tarantula's firing distance, he could only snarl at William's dirty tactics knowing that a Tarantula was about to unload on him. He tried one last time to escape, but it was to no avail. The tarantula next to William readied its firing arms, aiming them both at Ulrich, who was basically waiting to be put out of his misery. William only needed to give the order to do exactly that.

Suddenly, a dart-like arrow whizzed past Ulrich's left shoulder. It hit William on his left shoulder, breaking his focus on maintaining the smoky prison that held Ulrich captive. Ulrich was dropped to the ground abruptly, but instead of feeling relatively nothing, he was screaming in pain.

His rescuers, Odd, Yumi and Aelita, ignored him as they sped towards William and the remaining Tarantula. Aelita formed an energy field in her right hand and threw it at the Tarantula. Her aim was perfect, connecting with the eye of XANA on the Tarantula's forehead. The Tarantula took a few steps back before it inevitably exploded. William growled, upset that part of XANA's plan was foiled, but glad that all the Lyoko warriors were all in one place.

Jeremie on the other hand was worried to hear Ulrich yelping in pain, and quickly tried to find the cause of it. He looked at what the scanners had analysed when Ulrich was transported to Lyoko, and a red exclamation mark came up on Ulrich's body, in particular, on his torso.

Then, events played through Jeremie's mind, trying to comprehend what happened. He remembered seeing the XANA possessed boy attack Ulrich by jumping on his back, causing them both to go underwater. He didn't witness what happened underwater, but Jeremie suspected that XANA's possession of the boy wasn't the entire XANA attack.

"Ulrich, are you alright?" Jeremie asked in concern.

"No. That shouldn't have hurt me that much. How many life points have I lost?" Ulrich questioned as he slowly picked himself up.

Jeremie checked Ulrich's life points and jolted in surprise. He didn't expect Ulrich to lose that many points for just a metre's drop.

"Believe it or not, you've lost fifty life points. Thirty life points too many if you ask me," Jeremie answered.

Ulrich noticed that his teammates were distracting William for the time being, and responded, "Yeah. And I'm still in pain from it. Do physical injuries affect us on Lyoko?"

"No, they shouldn't. But I'm now starting to doubt that possession of that kid wasn't XANA's only avenue of attack."

"Then why is it directed to me and not at Aelita?"

Suddenly, a thought hit Jeremie that could answer Ulrich's questions, in particularity, the last one. He then asked the Supercomputer to give him a proper explanation of Ulrich's 'injury'. A window popped up, even with an x-ray, to fully explain the extent of Ulrich's injury to him and how it was caused.

Jeremie was shocked at the results, but glad the injury wasn't as bad as it could've been. If it was anybody else in the group, the injury would've been a lot worse. The blonde then slammed his fist on the desk, realising how monstrous and heartless XANA's plan was in order to throw Aelita into the Digital Sea. He was upset that the plan had to involve another victim who was a lot lower in the chain of command in the group.

"Guys… You have to ditch Ulrich and head to the tower," Jeremie ordered hesitantly.

Angered by his order, Yumi demanded an explanation from Jeremie to leave a hurt Ulrich alone with William. Aelita wanted to calm Yumi down, but she threw another energy field instead to protect Ulrich.

"XANA's plan is to have you all fighting William, so that William may have the chance to throw Aelita in the Digital Sea. The only way he could do that is to severely hurt one of you three so that you all would stay behind to not have him to suffer. He chose Ulrich because Ulrich would always protect us from danger even though he would put himself at risk of losing his life. So he possessed a boy, giving him superhuman strength, and coincidently that Ulrich knew so that if he saw him again, he would want to talk to him. Then Ulrich would be baited to the trap and spring it. We saw the boy attack Ulrich with our own eyes, and we would think XANA's attack would only be possessing the boy," Jeremie explained.

"Damn it! That's incredibly low, even for XANA attacks," Yumi growled.

"Oh, that reminds me," Odd quipped, firing a laser arrow at William, "How bad is Ulrich's injury?"

"Well, if we punched by him, we would've had broken bones by now. But since Ulrich is a lot stronger than us… he only got a fractured ribcage," Jeremie answered.

Ulrich, who finally was able to stand on his two feet, replied, "Wait, I thought I only got a bruise from that kid."

"A bruise? You were hurt by him earlier?" Jeremie retorted.

"Yeah, he was," Yumi answered, instead of Ulrich, "Ulrich called me earlier telling me that kid punched him in the stomach. But that was before he was possessed."

As Yumi finished her sentence, a window displaying Ulrich's results showed Jeremie something new. As the visual of Ulrich's body displayed his back, there was an area that was flashing green that looked like a handprint. Surprised, Jeremie wanted to see the results of the handprint, knowing he may get the name of the boy. Soon enough, the boy's name appeared on the screen, along with his medical history and his own history. Jeremie was shocked that there was a report on his own past, but what was important was that he had a name to that kid. However, there was one prominent detail that stuck out to Jeremie that he needed to tell the group about.

"Guys, I just found out that this kid's been expelled from two schools before coming to Kadic," Jeremie declared.

"Wait, how are you able to find out that information?" Aelita asked.

"The kid, Kieran Montrez, left his grimy fingerprints on Ulrich's back," Jeremie responded.

"Hold on, if Kieran had his fingerprints on file that means he must've had a run in with the cops," Yumi added.

"This is getting more messed up as each second passes by. Let's deactivate the tower!" Odd exclaimed.

"Agreed, but you have to leave Ulrich behind with William. It's the only way Aelita can get into the tower safely," Jeremie recommended.

"But Ulrich is going to go through more pain. There must be some way to deal with William and help Ulrich," Aelita retorted.

"Aelita, I'll be fine. Don't worry about me. Just focus on your objective. The sooner you deactivate the tower, the less Kieran and I would have to suffer," Ulrich replied, withdrawing both his blades.

"Right Ulrich. We won't be too long. Just hang on as long as you can," Yumi stated.

Odd and Yumi steered their vehicles away from Ulrich to the direction of the tower. The red aura around it simply couldn't be ignored for too long. Aelita looked back, feeling sorry for Ulrich as he was thrown into a conflict she should be in. She charged up an energy field, and pushed it in William's direction. At least, so that Ulrich needed to do less damage to William to defeat him, if he could.

Ulrich watched his friends disappear into the distance, knowing they won't come back for him. Then he stared at William, who was already rushing towards him. Ulrich changed into a defensive stance with his blades close to his chest. Unexpectedly, William was hit by a stray pink energy ball, causing him to stop and recuperate.

The samurai was glad William had been stopped, as he suddenly felt a sharp pain throughout his body, in particular, coming from the left side of his body. Remembering that was the area Kieran struck while he was possessed by XANA, he knew he was already at a huge disadvantage fighting William.

"XANA… or William, you better fight easy on me, because I'm not feeling too flash at the moment," Ulrich stated.

"Fight easy against you? Hah! You're the strongest warrior here! You should be able to fight me, incapacitated or not," William responded, pointing his blade at Ulrich.

"I'll take that as a compliment, and hopefully I can defeat you."

"You and your friends have never defeated me before. How could you now?"

"Well, I'm hoping that's about to change."

Ulrich crouched slightly, readying himself to attack and defend at will. All that was required of him was to endure the XANA attack, but this time, his body would be the deciding factor of whether he could distract William for long enough or not.

William then charged at him. Ulrich could only remain in position and wait for William to make his first strike against him.

* * *

Meanwhile, the trio approached the tower, inching closer to entering it and finishing off the XANA attack. However, they just had one more icy hill to fly over so they could land as close as possible to the tower. Jeremie warned them to be careful just in case they were ambushed by monsters.

Odd went ahead of the girls, just to check whether the coast was clear. He sped over the hill and was flabbergasted by the sight he saw. He attempted to count the monsters in the valley below, hoping he could give a good estimate to Jeremie before he was spotted. But a Krabe noticed him and informed the rest of the monsters with a roar. As the monsters aimed at Odd, he crossed his arms over his chest and shouted a single word. The word triggered a purple dome that protected Odd's upper body.

A barrage of lasers were fired from the monsters, some of which hit Odd's shield as he slowly moved back while counting the monsters. Yumi thought it would be best if she and Aelita kept their distance, afraid that one hit from those lasers would knock them out of the sky. As soon as Odd was out of range, he dispersed his shield. He has no idea how he would be able to escort Aelita into the tower. Yumi and Aelita moved next to Odd, trying to get a peek at the monsters.

"Wow. I totally didn't expect that," Odd stated.

"Jeremie? How many monsters are there?" Yumi enquired.

"I'm not sure at the mom-"

"There's at least fifteen of them," Odd interrupted.

"Fifteen? How are we supposed to take them out?" Yumi demanded.

"You have to think of a plan to get past them. Damn, XANA's really putting out all the stops on us," Jeremie grumbled.

"Ulrich's triplicate would be fantastic here… If only he was here," Odd mumbled.

"We'll have to make do without Ulrich. And we better think of that plan quickly. The less time we take to deactivate that tower, the less time Ulrich has to suffer," Aelita declared.

The trio looked over the hill, seeing various monsters guarding the tower vigilantly. They felt intimidated by their numbers, but were doing their best to find a path or a strategy to have Aelita reach the tower.

It was only a matter of time until William defeats Ulrich and attacks the rest of the group from behind. They had to think of a plan quickly, before it was too late to save Kieran and the citizens in the swimming complex.

* * *

**Author's Chapter Notes**

Even though Jeremie is the least athletic member of the group, he can at least swim well. In the episode, 'Déjà vu', he rescued Aelita from drowning after she fell into the pool. It's a pretty similar case in this story, but it's a lot more dangerous.

In the episode 'Franz Hopper', the polymorph of Franz was able to scan Ulrich, Odd and Yumi for cell degeneration in the scanners. Since the scanners could also analyse DNA and other things, I thought it was very possible that the scanners could pick up broken bones and fingerprints. Hence why Jeremie could diagnose Ulrich quickly of fractured bones and identify who the boy is.

Speaking of identification of the boy, I wasn't going to reveal his name until the last chapter. But frankly, I was sick of writing him as 'the boy', and it grew increasingly difficult to write him as this 'mysterious' boy. Either way, I hope the boy is still interesting now that I have revealed his name and other information about him.

I'd also like to say thanks for all the reviews so far and I hope you guys continue to like this episode.


	4. Chapter 4: Wheels

**Powerslave**

**Chapter 4: Wheels**

Meanwhile, the young possessed boy was dealing with the lifeguards easily. With his new superhuman strength, he could push them into the pool or away from him. He seemed unstoppable, as the lifeguards had not been able to apprehend the boy.

Kieran's glare struck fear in the children at the pool, in particular, children in the same grade as him. They could see Kieran in a much darker light, watching him dispose adult men like they were twigs.

Jim observed Kieran taking care of the lifeguards, shocked of what this child was capable of. He didn't really know this kid much, but he wouldn't want to mess with him.

A lifeguard ran up next to Jim and asked, "How is this child so strong?"

"I have no idea. He's a new student here. This is his first P.E. class," Jim answered.

"Well, can you help us calm him down before he causes more damage?" the lifeguard enquired.

"I'll try," Jim responded.

However, he was nervous as all hell. Making the wrong move here could result in flying across the swimming complex. But he wanted to stop the boy from hurting others, and most especially, himself.

* * *

Meanwhile, Odd, Yumi and Aelita devised a plan quickly in order to have Aelita reach the tower so she could deactivate it. Odd looked over the hill, checking where the monsters were. They were still in the same position, which was perfect for the plan to work.

Odd gave a nod to the girls, and slowly rose up over the cliff. He slammed his foot on the back of his Overboard, causing him to speed towards the monsters to get their attention. He then fired a laser arrow, hoping it would hit a monster and destroy it.

The arrow hit its target perfectly, and the Tarantula was destroyed. The rest of the monsters noticed this, and aimed their lasers at Odd, who was prepared for the worse. He crouched down low on his Overboard and activated his dome shield, hoping it would prevent him from being devirtualized. The monsters fired rapidly at Odd to take him out, however, most of their shots were inaccurate and only every now and again the lasers hit his shield. Observing this, it boosted Odd's confidence that the plan would work.

Aelita and Yumi watched the monsters hopelessly fire at Odd, glad that they were doing exactly as they planned. Yumi carefully hovered the Overwing over the hill and hugged the perimeter of the area, attempting to find an open path to the tower.

Aelita whispered in Yumi's ear, and pointed out a path she noticed. Yumi drove the Overwing silently to the path that Aelita found. As they approached the gap, Yumi smiled at Aelita, incredibly happy that they could finish this mission right at this moment. Yumi put the Overwing and full throttle and swiftly passed the monsters. However, Odd saw a huge problem with her move, spotting a Krabe who apparently noticed her before, and was targeting her.

"Yumi! Watch out!" Odd yelled.

It was too late, the Krabe fired, and Odd could only pray that the shot did not hit Yumi or Aelita. The laser directly punctured Yumi's Overwing, flipping it over so that the Overwing was upside down. Aelita grabbed Yumi's waist, while Yumi hung onto the handlebars of the Overwing. Odd lowered his shield, noticing that all fourteen remaining monsters were aiming at Yumi and Aelita who were sitting targets. He knew if he didn't do something; the girls could easily be taken out.

Odd fired arrows rapidly at the monsters, hoping he could take out a few of them to give the girls a chance to escape. Yumi was only hanging onto the Overwing by her fingertips, knowing that if she fell, they would land in the middle of the monsters. It was disastrous if that happened, because they would have no defence against the raining lasers upon them.

"Yumi, let go and activate my wings. It's too dangerous here," Aelita ordered.

Yumi agreed with Aelita, she had no choice but to let go of her vehicle. The girls descended quickly, as Aelita was hugging Yumi, adding her weight onto Yumi's. Odd panicked seeing them fall, and aimed at the monsters closest to the girls. He fired again, really wanting to take out a few monsters to make the girls' lives easier. Another Tarantula, Krabe and Megatank were defeated by Odd while the girls were falling. Yumi fortunately spotted Aelita's star bracelet quickly and waved her hand over it. Suddenly, Aelita's wings burst out of her back, stopping their descent completely. Odd sighed in relief, glad that the girls could save themselves.

Aelita turned away from the monsters and quickly picked up speed to return to their hiding spot behind the hill. Odd followed suit, and reached their cover at the same time as Aelita and Yumi. Aelita dropped Yumi on Odd's Overboard, letting her arms rest. The monsters were still attacking them, preventing them from checking how many monsters were left.

"That didn't go to plan," Odd stated.

"And we better think of a new one quick," Yumi responded.

"Jeremie, how is Ulrich going?" Aelita enquired.

Jeremie, who was actually checking Ulrich's fight with William, was waiting until somebody lost some life points. However, nothing was happening, except he could see Ulrich moving back and William moving forward.

"He's on the same life points as he started with. But he hasn't done anything to William yet either," Jeremie answered.

"I'm glad he's still there. It means William isn't going to attack us from behind anytime soon," Yumi replied.

"Yeah, but Ulrich's near the edge of the platoon. So I'm worried… Really worried," Jeremie responded.

As soon as Jeremie finished his sentence, Ulrich stepped to the side as William slammed his blade down. He ran past William and spun around to face him again. He could now see that he used to be near the edge of the icy platform, and was glad Jeremie was talking to the others about his performance. William turned around slowly, annoyed that Ulrich was aware that Digital Sea was behind him. He felt like he had underestimated an injured Ulrich Stern, and grew fixated on exterminating him.

The possessed slave sprinted towards Ulrich and swung his blade. Ulrich ducked, feeling incredible pain by compressing his body. He jumped back, clutching his chest. His body was ready to give up, but Ulrich was not going to allow himself to do that. Ulrich charged forward and sliced William. However, William stepped back, avoiding the attack. He plummeted his large sword again, but Ulrich side stepped to dodge the weapon.

The double sword wielding warrior saw an opportunity. He lunged forward, slashing across William's shoulders. Electricity ran across William's shoulders where Ulrich struck, indicating that he nailed a clean blow on William.

Suddenly, William pulled his blade off the icy floor, forcing Ulrich to fall back on the ground. The impact shook his body, as a thunderous pain went through his body.

"Ulrich, you've lost ten life points," Jeremie informed.

Ulrich jumped to his feet and demanded, "How the hell did I lose ten life points? William didn't touch me!"

"Let me check," Jeremie stated, looking at his computer screen.

On the screen, instead of seeing Ulrich's torso flashing, he saw Ulrich's ribcage flashing between red and white. Jeremie gritted his teeth, as his worse fears for Ulrich have been realised. Ever since he found out that Ulrich had fractured his ribcage and that he was hurting on Lyoko, Jeremie thought that if any attacks were directed to Ulrich's chest could break his ribcage. And if his ribcage was broken on Lyoko, most likely he would have a broken ribcage when he returned to Earth.

"Ulrich… you have to be extremely careful. You lost life points because your ribcage was shaken by the fall. Not only that, if you suffer a broken ribcage on Lyoko, you're going to suffer a broken ribcage when you're back on Earth, and I don't want you to go through that," Jeremie warned.

"Great. Just another thing to hold me back in this fight," Ulrich grumbled.

Ulrich then jumped to his right, avoiding William's blade. William quickly ran up to him and tried throwing a punch to catch him off guard. However, Ulrich anticipated a fast attack, and rolled backwards. Once on his feet again, Ulrich put himself in a defensive position, remembering that he's meant to buy time for his friends, as well as not worsening his injury.

Seeing Ulrich play defensive, William once again charged. This time, he swung his blade at Ulrich's feet. Ulrich sprung into the air and plunged one of his swords at William. However, William quickly dispersed his blade and stopped Ulrich's attack by grabbing his right wrist. Ulrich felt dumbstruck, as he should've known William was going to perform something unexpected. But Ulrich did have a secondary weapon. He attempted to slash William with the second sword. All of a sudden, William blocked the blow with his gauntlet on his left arm. He quickly battered Ulrich's secondary blade away, disarming Ulrich partially. Ulrich kept his eyes fixated on William, now extremely worried that he was completely open to a devastating strike.

"Jeremie, devirtualize me before this guy breaks me!" Ulrich commanded in panic.

William elbowed Ulrich in the stomach and followed it quickly with a thump on his collarbone. Ulrich was sent flying back. He hoped that he was not going to land on his back first so he could prevent more damage to his life points. He couldn't avert it though. He landed on his back, but quickly rolled two full revolutions until his hands halted him. He didn't feel a lot of pain, rather, he felt out of breath. He knew he shouldn't be feeling this way on Lyoko, yet he was starting to feel physical fatigue.

Ulrich whispered a single word before Jeremie stated, "Wow, you were incredibly lucky he did not aim for your chest."

Ulrich chuckled, but was abruptly forced off the ground and into mid-air. He noticed the dark mist around him, annoyed that William caught him again. This time, William was not going to be as merciful. He stomped towards the Digital Sea, with Ulrich nearing his doom each second. He took a quick glance behind him, seeing that there was only a few metres between hovering above ground to hovering above the Digital Sea.

Ulrich wanted to call for Jeremie's assistance, but he had one last trick up his sleeve that he hoped would finish before William pushes him to oblivion.

"Got any last words?" William asked.

Ulrich looked up, then faced William and answered, "Yeah, I do."

"Well?"

"I'm not alone."

William immediately knew what Ulrich meant, but was already too late. The other two Ulrichs each grabbed one of William's arms, apprehending him. The real Ulrich landed back on his feet, free of the smoky hold. With their other hands, they drew their weapons and stabbed William in the chest.

The XANA possessed William let out a furious scream, frustrated that he was defeated by one of his enemies. Not to mention that enemy was incapacitated. The Ulrichs let go of William, who staggered backwards, watching his body from the inside out disappearing.

In his rage, he shot out two smoke blasts at the two fake Ulrichs, removing them from existence immediately. He then faced the real Ulrich, who looked exhausted but was smiling in victory.

"You! I could've killed both you and Aelita today! But you defied logic! You… an imperfect being… defeated my henchman! How? How could this possibly happen?" William barked in fury.

"I use whatever strength I have to protect my friends and this world," Ulrich responded.

"That… doesn't make any sense!" William roared, "No matter, I'll just take you with me!"

In his last act, William threw a smoke ball at Ulrich. Ulrich was caught by surprise, and was unable to avoid it. While William dispersed, Ulrich was propelled back and over the edge of the platform. Ulrich's worse fear was almost about to happen.

He called out Jeremie's name as he reached for the icy platoon in front of him. Ulrich felt his fingertips touch the edge, and soon his body stopped moving away from land. His body then slammed on the side of the icy platoon, but he ignored the pain.

"Ulrich, are you alright? I saw William disappear from my-" Jeremie enquired.

"No time! Devirtualize me before I fall into the Digital Sea!" Ulrich commanded.

"Right."

Ulrich, feeling the pain erupting throughout his body, let go of the ledge. He was plummeting down to the deep blue, with many pressing thoughts in his mind. He closed his eyes, wanting to ignore that he was falling to an eternity on Lyoko. He hoped that Jeremie was able to save him in time.

Then, he picked up the hissing of the scanners. He opened his eyes, seeing two doors parting to reveal a room with two large cylinders and a large door. Ulrich sighed in relief. Never had he'd been so relieved to return to Earth. Ulrich soon took his first step out of the scanner, and staggered across the room. He was really feeling the pain of his fracture, desiring it to stop. Jeremie saw this on the security video. At first, he was glad Ulrich was safely back on Earth, but was shocked to see him in the state that he was in.

"Ulrich, stay in the scanner room. You won't risk hurting yourself. You've done more than enough," Jeremie stated.

Ulrich agreed. He'd actually didn't want to push himself any longer. His body was screaming in pain and needed to rest it.

As he was about to sit down, a thought hit his head. What about Kieran? After overhearing Jeremie talk to the others about his profile, he grew more curious about the boy's past. He wondered why Kieran was expelled from both his previous schools and why he came to Kadic.

Ulrich knew there was only one way to find out. However, Jeremie was keeping an eye out on him. If he tried to head to the elevator Jeremie would lock it down and make it inaccessible to use. Then another thought came to mind. What if Jeremie was telling his friends the good news that he managed to defeat the XANA possessed William for the first time? He had to take that distraction to get out of here at least.

The fourteen year old dashed to the elevator, really hoping the Jeremie didn't see him. He felt that it was in his best interest to help out Kieran in whatever way possible, even if he was risking himself.

The elevator doors soon opened before him. He stepped inside and quickly pressed the button to go up to the ground floor of the Factory. He spun around, noticing that his and his friend's swimming bags were still in the elevator. Since he was still shirtless, he grabbed a blue buttoned up t-shirt from his bag and put it on. He didn't feel nervous at all, but was extremely worried whether he was going to reach Kieran in time.

* * *

"Guys! I've got the best news ever!" Jeremie exclaimed.

Jeremie's loud voice stopped the three from discussing a new plan. They could tell by the sound of his voice that he was extremely excited.

"What is it Einstein?" Odd asked.

"Ulrich managed to defeat William!" Jeremie shouted.

The trio cheered, and yet they were amazed that Ulrich could pull it off for the first time. However, Aelita was concerned if William was still there to be rescued.

"Wow, have we done that before?" Odd questioned.

"I don't think so. It must be a first. I can't believe he managed to beat him while he was injured," Yumi stated.

"What about William? Can we still save him?" Aelita enquired.

The group was shot into silence by that question. Now they wondered if there was any hope of saving William from XANA's possession or not.

"I'll check it out," Jeremie responded, "Think of a plan so we can finish this off."

The group acknowledged Jeremie, as Yumi and Odd looked over the hill to check how many monsters were left. Both of them counted eleven monsters were still standing. However, Odd noticed that there were a lot of Tarantulas there. Five of them in fact, probably to make up the abundant firepower. He also spotted two Krabes, two Megatanks and two Bloks. Odd tried to figure out how to switch their formation, so the Tarantulas would be on one side while the slow firing monsters would be on the other side.

However, Yumi's mind was elsewhere. She was wondering how the hell Ulrich managed to defeat William while dealing with his fractured ribcage. She was tired of looking over at the monsters, and looked around her surroundings to try to get her mind off that thought.

But if Ulrich did defeat William, then logically, he should still be on Lyoko. It would be perfect if he could help out the team with their monster problem.

"Jeremie… Can Ulrich help us? He should still be on Lyoko, right?" Yumi enquired.

"Uh… He isn't. I had to devirtualize him before he fell into the Digital Sea," Jeremie responded, switching windows to see how Ulrich was coping.

Jeremie jolted. Ulrich was not in the Scanner room. He quickly looked at the other sercurity cameras to see if he was in the Factory at this moment. However, he was no where to be found.

He attempted to call up Ulrich, hoping he was carrying his cell phone. However, the dial rang out, and was met with a pre-recorded message directing him to Ulrich's message bank. The window on the Supercomputer tracked down where the phone was, telling Jeremie that Ulrich's mobile was still in the elevator, most likely in his swimming bag. He realised where Ulrich would be heading to, and slapped his forehead. Feeling extremely stressed out about Ulrich's safety, he had to tell the rest of the group.

"Great. Now the worse possible thing has happened," Jeremie concluded.

"What is it Jeremie?" Aelita asked.

"Ulrich's going to the swimming pool. He's probably trying to protect the people there from Kieran," Jeremie answered.

"Why would he still be thinking about Kieran at this time? That kid almost killed him!" Odd proclaimed.

"I really want somebody to chase after Ulrich before he gets seriously hurt, but it could jeopardise the mission on Lyoko," Jeremie replied.

Yumi bit her lip, having a feeling that Ulrich would place another life before his own. She scanned her surroundings once again, trying to conjure up something to help her teammates.

Suddenly, she spotted a part of the hill that looked like it could break off at any moment. Best of all, it would slide down towards the monsters if it did snap off. Then, an idea clicked.

"Jeremie, I've got a solution. There's something on the side of that hill that can be broken off. I'll break it off, hopefully it'll take care of some monsters and then Odd and Aelita can devirtualize me so I can save Ulrich," Yumi explained.

"It sounds like the best shot we have," Jeremie stated.

"Yeah, I can't think of a better plan. I hope that cliff edge takes care of heaps of monsters," Aelita responded.

"We'll see what happens," Yumi affirmed.

Yumi reached out with her right hand as far as she could and pressed the fingers of her left hand on her temple. She focused her thoughts on severing the cliff so that a large icy rock would roll down the side of the hill. The icy rock lifted up slightly, but was still connected to the side of the hill. Yumi concentrated harder on the ice, knowing that she needed to focus more.

Suddenly, Aelita watched the icy rock break away from the cliff. She smiled, and peeked over the hill to see what damage the rock would cause.

Yumi let her telekinetic hold on the icy rock go. It fell down with a large thump, grabbing the attention of all the monsters guarding the tower. Aelita observed the monsters attempting to run as far as they could. However, some of them were too slow, as they were ran over by the large icy rock. The icy rock promptly stopped when it crashed into the side of the tower. Aelita saw that there were still monsters left; however, their numbers did not look so intimidating anymore. She tried counting the remaining monsters.

While she was doing that, Yumi faced Odd, indicating that now would be a good time to devirtualize her. Odd acknowledged Yumi and fired two laser arrows at her chest. She was immediately devirtualized.

Aelita stared at Odd and stated, "Oh, Yumi's gone already. There's five monsters left Odd. We stand a pretty good chance now."

"Great, did you get that Einstein?" Odd asked.

"Sure did. Remember Odd, protect Aelita-" Jeremie announced.

"Until she deactivates the tower. I know the drill," Odd retorted.

"And a careful plan along with it. Just because Yumi wiped out six monsters doesn't mean you're going to do that easily," Jeremie added, noticing that Yumi was exiting her scanner on security footage.

Yumi sprinted to the elevator, crossing her fingers that Ulrich wasn't too far from the Factory. The elevator doors opened before her. She stepped inside, immediately noticing that Ulrich had been through his bag. She wished the elevator moved faster. Time was of the essence. She knew if she didn't reach Ulrich in time, he would be dead.

* * *

**Author's Chapter Notes**

It bugged me that Ulrich's triplicate was heavily underused in Series 4. And during the two times he used it in the entire series, he ended up devirtualized. So despite it not being used in Series 4 often, I decided to have him use that ability.

Once again, thanks to those who read and reviewed this fic so far and I hope I still receive your continued support.


	5. Chapter 5: Heart of Glass

**Powerslave**

**Chapter 5: Heart of Glass**

Despite all the pain rushing through his body, Ulrich was able to sprint from the Factory to the swimming pool. His stubbornness and determination numbed out the pain he was feeling in his chest, as he had one thought in mind. He entered the swimming complex, quickly scanning the area to find Kieran. The pool was deserted, except for the lifeguards who were running in one direction. Then, he spotted Kieran near the ten metre diving board, pushing a lifeguard into the pool.

As soon as he started to run, an arm blocked his path. Ulrich knew that it was Jim's arm, and was aware of the reason he would do that.

"Ulrich, I wouldn't approach the boy if I were you," Jim warned.

"I need to see him! I've seen him earlier, and I think something's wrong with him!" Ulrich demanded.

"The boy is dangerous. He's been pushing adults like it was nothing! Imagine what he could do to you!" Jim retorted.

"I don't think about it. Look, he may stop if I talk to him. Hey Kieran!" Ulrich called.

Kieran froze. His head turned to the direction he heard the voice from. He saw Ulrich standing next to Jim. He was exactly the person the possessed Kieran wanted to see.

XANA's slave pushed another lifeguard out of the way and sprinted towards Ulrich. Jim noticed that Kieran was heading in Ulrich's direction, and stood in front of him. Ulrich however quickly stepped around him and presented himself in front of Kieran. The boy stopped, glaring at Ulrich. Jim was surprised he wouldn't attack Ulrich right away. Ulrich carefully took a step forward, and bent down to be at the boy's height.

"If you're listening to me, I just wanted to know if something's wrong with you. Like, if someone was hurting you," Ulrich alleged.

Kieran lowered his head, hiding his face from Ulrich. Ulrich immediately knew something was wrong with him. He carefully reached out to him, aware that he was possessed by XANA. The boy looked up at Ulrich, with tears now visible in his eyes. Ulrich remained silent and was incredibly surprised that he was seeing this from a person possessed by XANA.

"Please… help me Ulrich," Kieran uttered.

Ulrich was taken aback by what Kieran stated. Did he just break out of XANA's possession? Ulrich was completely unsure how to approach him. He wanted to say something or give him a hug, but he was at risk at getting severely hurt. Ulrich moved back slightly with uncertainty. Suddenly, Kieran grabbed his right wrist. Ulrich stuck with his instinct and immediately kicked Kieran in the chest, believing he was still possessed by XANA. Kieran let go of Ulrich's wrist as he was sent back. Ulrich sprung into the pool nearby, knowing that he made the possessed Kieran very angry. He had to keep his distance from him.

Jim grabbed Kieran before could move. However, Kieran ripped out of his grip and looked around for Ulrich. He heard splashing to his right, and turned his head in that direction. He spotted Ulrich at the other side of the pool, pushing himself out.

As Ulrich exited the pool, Kieran dived in. Ulrich ran for his life, scared that if Kieran caught up, his bones would be snapped. Thoughts of his friends succeeding were on his mind, hoping they almost deactivated the tower.

* * *

Meanwhile, Odd and Aelita were preparing to initiate their siege on the tower. Aelita was on the back of Odd's Overboard, holding onto his waist. She was unsure of how she would enter the tower, but she hoped she could succeed in her role. Odd made sure his feet were firmly placed on his Overboard. Then, he hovered the board up slightly to check the monsters. They looked ready to fire at them once they ride over the hill.

Odd turned his attention to Aelita and stated, "Princess, this idea may be crazy, but you'll need to remain in your position."

"Odd… I'm used to your crazy ideas now. Whatever you do won't surprise me," Aelita reassured.

"Don't say I didn't warn you," Odd mumbled.

Odd flicked his board and speed over the hill. Then he shifted his weight forward to descend down the hill sharply. Aelita held onto his waist tighter in fear that she would probably fall off.

The monsters directed their aim to the duo, almost about to fire. Unexpectedly, Odd removed Aelita's hands off his waist and propelled himself forwards. The monsters were completely taken by surprise. They became confused of which Lyoko warrior was the biggest threat to them. However, Odd quickly answered that question. He rolled forward and immediately fired at an unsuspecting Krabe. The Krabe was destroyed straight away, and the four remaining monsters targeted Odd.

Aelita, who was also flabbergasted by Odd's actions, remembered to stay on the Overboard. The Overboard was heading straight for the tower. All Aelita had to do is to not veer it in the wrong direction.

Odd fired rapidly at the monsters, but he could hear the Overboard getting closer to him very quickly. He dropped to the icy ground as the Overboard flew over his head. He sprung up to his feet once Aelita went past. He noticed that he managed to take out another monster. Three more to go. But it looked like that Odd didn't need to rout the monsters, as Aelita was travelling way too fast for the monsters on Odd's Overboard. The momentum from driving sharply down the hill contributed to the incredibly fast velocity she was going.

Odd smirked and took another shot at one of the remaining Tarantulas. He spun around, watching Aelita enter the tower on his Overboard. Aelita jumped off the Overboard, somehow landing in the middle of the platform in the tower. She was immediately lifted up to a higher platform of the tower.

At the pool, Ulrich turned around, seeing Kieran was catching up to him. But at the same time, he noticed that Yumi just entered the swimming complex. He had no time to think how she found out he wasn't in the Factory, as he ran the other direction.

Aelita landed on the higher platform and walked towards the console that appeared before her. She placed her right hand on it temporality. Once it was removed, her handprint flashed momentarily. Then, her name flashed on screen. Afterwards, it was replaced by _Code_. Immediately after it was displayed, the screen typed up the following word, _Lyoko_.

The pink haired guardian of Lyoko sighed in relief and declared to Jeremie that the tower was deactivated. Outside the tower, the remaining monsters retreated. Odd pumped his fist in the air, proud that his plan worked very effectively.

Meanwhile, as Kieran appeared to have almost caught up to Ulrich, suddenly collapsed. Ulrich heard him slap the marble floor, and spun around. Abruptly, he went down on all fours. His body was telling him to just give up and rest. But Ulrich was too concerned for Kieran. He crawled quickly to the boy, knowing it was safe to approach him. He ran his fingers through the sixth grader's brown hair, glad he was free from XANA's possession.

Suddenly, he felt a hand on his right shoulder. He turned his head, facing Yumi Ishiyama, who was worried about his physical condition. His vision was starting to get blurry, an indication that his body was now forcing him to rest.

"Ulrich, are you alright?" Yumi asked.

"No," Ulrich answered, and clutched his ribs, which the pain escalated to an excruciating level.

Ulrich could feel his body quit on him right now. But he didn't want to lose consciousness just yet. He still had one more thing to do before he could allow himself to do exactly that.

"Yumi… You have to tell Jeremie… not to activate… a return to the past," Ulrich requested.

"Why?" Yumi enquired.

"Just… trust me… on this one," Ulrich answered.

After Ulrich uttered those words, his world plunged into blackness. His body completely shut down on him. To be bruised, to be punched repeatedly by boy possessed by XANA, to have the injuries sustained by the events before affect him on Lyoko, to somehow defeat William and return to the swimming complex to save Kieran in time completely and utterly exhausted Ulrich.

And now, all his efforts to save Kieran rested in the hands of Yumi Ishiyama.

* * *

**Author's Chapter Notes**

I apologise that this chapter is short. However, with the ending of this chapter, I can tell you that the next chapter is the final chapter of this story. So thanks for your continued support, and I hope you all look forward to the last chapter.


	6. Chapter 6: Hope

**Powerslave**

**Chapter 6: Hope**

Yumi caught Ulrich as fell unconscious in her arms. Concerned, she carefully rolled him over and put her hand on the left side of his chest. She felt a strong, beating heart, slowing down gradually. She made an exasperated sigh, glad he was still alive.

She turned to face Kieran, who was breathing heavily, but wasn't coming to. Remembering that Ulrich rushed to the swimming pool for him, she wondered why he wanted to help Kieran. Especially after Kieran had punched him in the stomach and left a bruise there.

Then, Ulrich's last words came to mind. Since Jeremie would activate a return to the past straight away, she quickly pulled out her mobile phone and dialled his number. As she put the phone to her ear, she hoped that he would pick up before the time revision was active.

"Hello Yumi, is Ulrich alright?" Jeremie asked.

"Yeah, he and Kieran are not hurt at all," Yumi answered.

"It seems good to return to the past and set everything-" Jeremie declared.

"No! Don't do it!" Yumi shouted.

"Why?" Jeremie demanded.

"Ulrich said to not do it," Yumi affirmed.

"Just because Ulrich said it doesn't mean everything's going to be normal again. I could fix his fractured ribcage by turning back time. Wouldn't he want that?" Jeremie questioned.

"That's what he doesn't want. Ulrich couldn't tell me the reason why because he collapsed in my arms before he could tell me. So… I have to place my trust in him. Compared to what you've seen of Kieran, I think Ulrich knows a lot more about him than what's written on file. He's seen Kieran's good and bad side within an hour, and to me, I trust Ulrich's judgement on this a lot more than I trust yours. Plus, he's been through hell and back pushing through that fracture of his. He deserves to call this one," Yumi explained.

Jeremie stared at the Supercomputer screen with Yumi's explanation going through his mind. He wasn't really sure if he should agree with Yumi. Jeremie was uncertain what would happen if he didn't activate a return to the past, but he could see what would happen if he did.

Most likely, it would be the start of recess. They would bring the clone William to the Gym, and would be able to teach him faster because he would still have the memories from before. Then one person would spot Kieran coming in and stop him from stealing the soccer ball in the first place.

Returning to the past sounded awesome to Jeremie, but it was at the expense of XANA getting stronger. Due to his brutal plan to throw Aelita into the Digital Sea, Jeremie was afraid that XANA may use that tactic again or conjure up something worse.

Jeremie placed his hands on his lap and replied, "Alright Yumi. I won't activate a time revision. But if Ulrich doesn't succeed with Kieran, I'll activate a return to the past later so that Ulrich doesn't have to suffer."

"Okay, that's something I can agree with. I'll see you later."

* * *

Yumi and Jim rode in a paramedic's car, with the unconscious boys resting on stretchers in the back of the stationwagon. Yumi was considerably amazed that the paramedics couldn't pick up that Ulrich had a fractured ribcage. Instead, they diagnosed it as severe bruising, and stated Ulrich needed to avoid vigorous exercise for at least two weeks. Kieran on the other hand was unharmed, and collapsed due to shock of the amount of adrenaline pumping through his body.

But Yumi knew the full extent of those injuries and why they had occurred. She was worried about Ulrich especially, wondering how he was going to cope with the pain and the subsequent two weeks ahead. Jim on the other hand was relieved that Ulrich hadn't received any severe injuries. He remembered when the paramedics removed the sport star's shirt, revealing a sickening shade of yellow that covered most of his lower chest area. That image frightened the easygoing P.E. teacher to see his dedicated practitioner of Pencak Silat hurt so horribly by a boy younger than him.

Soon enough, they arrived directly behind the school, where the shortest route to the infirmary was possible. Almost immediately, the paramedics jumped out of the car and rushed to open the back. Yumi and Jim quickly followed them, knowing that their assistance would be needed to carry the stretchers. The first paramedic grabbed the ends of Kieran's stretcher first, where Jim rushed to the back of the car to pick up the other end of the stretcher. The second paramedic was taken aback by Jim's response, but was happy to have assistance to make sure the students could reach the infirmary as fast as they could.

As Yumi approached the second paramedic, he advised her to pull the stretcher out of the car while he grabbed the other ends. Yumi carefully pulled the stretcher out of the back of the car, slowly stepping back from the vehicle. Finally, she looked down at the boy resting on the stretcher, and sighed. It was Ulrich's, and despite that he fell into her arms before he collapsed, she was unsure whether he would make a full recovery.

Soon as Yumi pulled out the stretcher far enough, the second paramedic grabbed the other end of it, bearing most of Ulrich's weight on his end. Yumi looked up, noticing the principal, Jean-Pierre Delmas, and the school nurse, Yolanda Perraudin opening the doors for the first paramedic and Jim to enter with Kieran.

Spotting Yumi helping bring Ulrich into the school, Yolanda sprinted towards her. Believing a student shouldn't need to carry an injured student to her office, she politely asked Yumi if she could assist the paramedic instead. Yumi immediately allowed her to help, knowing that she needed to speak with the paramedics about Ulrich's condition.

Once the first stretcher entered the building, Odd Della Robbia whizzed past them from out of nowhere. His heavy steps almost shook the earth around him as he hastily approached Ulrich's stretcher. The boy in purple looked at the unconscious Ulrich solemnly, hoping that he would have a speedy recovery through his injury. He then froze as the paramedic and Yolanda carried Ulrich into the school, already missing his roommate's presence.

Yumi advanced towards Odd and called out his name. Her voice brought him out of a depressing place, and he gave a weak smile as she came up to him.

"I can't believe they bought him here. I thought the paramedics would've picked up that he had a fractured ribcage," Odd stated angrily.

"A fracture doesn't have the same feel as a broken bone, plus it's impossible to pick up unless they had invented portable x-rays," Yumi explained, "Still, Ulrich should've gone to the hospital."

"Well, at least he's still at school. That's the main thing," Odd responded, changing his demeanour.

"Yeah. Anyway, where's Jeremie and Aelita?"

"Oh, they're waiting in front of the infirmary, hoping to see Ulrich. Do you want to go there now?" Odd asked.

"No. I've seen enough of Ulrich to wonder whether he's going to recover fully or not."

"That's understandable. What caused him to fall unconscious anyway? Was Kieran still possessed at the time?"

"It was just after Aelita deactivated the tower. And Ulrich just collapsed because he pushed his body too far through pain."

"Oh. Well, a return to the past would fix that… but Jeremie told us that he wasn't going to activate a return to the past. Do you know the reason why?"

"Ulrich requested it. I think he has a plan in mind to help Kieran," Yumi answered.

"That kid almost made off with our soccer ball. He seemed like somebody who would hate his guts. Why would he help him?"

"Maybe he knows something about Kieran that we don't. I trust I know what he's doing."

"Why do you believe Ulrich's plan is going to work?"

"I just… have a feeling it will work. He did tell me to stop Jeremie from activating a return to the past, so at least one part of it worked."

"You sound way too overconfident about Ulrich's plan. You're so in love with him," Odd alleged.

"Hey! Just because he collapsed in my arms doesn't mean I have feelings for him!" Yumi retorted, but quickly covered her mouth; just realising she revealed too much information.

"Hah! That had to influence your decision! C'mon, just admit to me that you're in love with Ulrich. Don't worry; your secret is safe with me!" Odd reassured.

Yumi spun around and responded, "Let's just see Ulrich, okay?"

Odd demanded Yumi for an answer to his huge question, but she ignored him. She wasn't in love with Ulrich; she was just there to catch him when he collapsed. After all, as a friend, she didn't want him to crack his head open on the marble floor of the pool.

She didn't want to lose what she already had with Ulrich, an unbreakable bond of friendship that could survive any obstacles been thrown at it. A relationship would always be strained, and difficult to maintain with school, parents and Lyoko to deal with at the same time. However, Ulrich's efforts to help a child he barely knew displayed to Yumi that he was growing into a much better person. Despite risking his life, she was certain that he believed that it was all worth it. Their goals were the same, to save lives, especially from XANA.

As she stepped closer to the infirmary, all she could do was hope that Ulrich was recovery steadily and that Odd wouldn't mention what happened during the swimming pool attack.

* * *

Ulrich opened his eyes slowly. He could only see sunlight coming in from a window to his left, as his vision was still blurry. He groaned from the sudden pain he felt in his chest. The fracture was still hurting him.

But he gave a weak smile. If the fracture was still there, it must have meant Yumi convinced Jeremie not to activate a return to the past, even when he didn't reveal his reasons to her.

Ulrich's vision returned to him soon enough, where he could now tell where he was. He was lying in one of the beds of the school infirmary. He felt extremely surprised he was there, knowing that he had a serious fracture in his ribcage that should be treated at hospital.

Ulrich sat up, as the blankets of the bed fell forwards. The bottom half of his torso was bandaged up, telling him the nurse would be aware that his body was seriously hurting in that area. Although, he was glad he was being treated for it somewhat.

"Ah, Ulrich. You're awake. How are you feeling?" the nurse, Yolanda, asked.

"Better. Thanks," Ulrich answered.

"That's good Ulrich. Your year level has been extremely concerned for your recovery, especially your friends," Yolanda stated.

"Oh. Well, I'm better now, and I don't feel like hell," Ulrich responded.

"Good. Then if it's okay with you, I'll bring in the Principal and Kieran," Yolanda replied.

"Yeah, it's fine."

As Yolanda exited the room, Ulrich sat back deeper into the pillow, thinking about what could happen next. He desperately wanted to know what Kieran was dealing with psychologically. The image that was clear in his mind was when Kieran was crying, he pleaded to him to 'save him'. Ulrich wanted to know exactly what that was, and how he could help.

It was the main reason why Ulrich didn't want Jeremie to initiate a return to the past. Ulrich wanted that answer from Kieran, but it was going to be difficult to get it from him since the Principal would be in the same room.

The door clicked open, revealing Mr. Delmas, the Principal of Kadic Academy, escorting Kieran into the room. Ulrich kept his eyes focused on both of them, as they walked across the room. They both grabbed two chairs and sat in front of Ulrich's bed. Ulrich had a feeling he would be questioned.

"Hello Ulrich. I'm glad that you are looking better already. You looked quite beaten up when I saw you return here," Mr. Delmas stated.

Ulrich didn't want to talk about it. He just wanted to hear what's wrong with Kieran and help him in whatever way he could.

"Anyway, I'm here to ask you a few questions about the incident at the swimming pool that happened earlier today," Mr. Delmas continued.

The principal of Kadic Academy proceeded to retell what most of the witnesses saw. It was the same thing that most people observed, as lifeguards were easily dispatched and no human adult could take down Kieran. However, there was no mention of lightning bolts shooting out of his hands or any other superhuman powers, where Ulrich felt extremely fortunate that XANA didn't force Kieran to use those powers against the swimmers.

With that being confirmed, Ulrich attempted to speak to Kieran directly about the incident. Mr. Delmas had other thoughts, and would rather hear Ulrich's side of the story. Ulrich was annoyed he couldn't ask about Kieran right away. But he forced himself to explain the events in his own point of view, without including his trip to Lyoko in the story. Mr. Delmas listened carefully, acknowledging every point he made. Kieran on the other hand kept his head down low, disappointed about his actions. Ulrich finished his story with falling unconscious in the presence of Yumi Ishiyama, hoping Yumi wouldn't get in trouble for being out of class.

Mr. Delmas thought about Ulrich's retelling of the events for some time before responding, "Your story definitely makes sense with other witnesses. However, what you did was extremely reckless with no regard to your own safety. I hope your injury would remind you not to do such a thing again."

Ulrich was astonished he would be told off for his selfless actions, but replied, "Yes Mr. Delmas, I won't do it again."

"However, you were very brave to confront Kieran Montrez in the… state that he was in. But, what doesn't make sense is that Kieran doesn't remember anything that happened at the swimming pool," Mr. Delmas mentioned, but paused for a moment, "Although, he did remember one thing."

"What was it?" Ulrich enquired.

Instead of the Principal answering, Kieran responded, "I remember you asking me if anybody was hurting me. Then I cried and wanted you to help me."

What Kieran just said confirmed Ulrich's thoughts that he must have broken out of XANA's possession just for one moment. Ulrich was amazed that it was possible to break out of XANA's hold, even if it was brief. Thoughts rushed through his head about the issue, with a new belief that maybe William could be freed quicker than his friends had expected.

"I understand why you would be surprised Ulrich. It clearly doesn't make sense that Kieran would remember one thing and forget everything else," Mr. Delmas alleged.

"It does make sense!" Ulrich retorted angrily.

"Well then Ulrich, if you have an explanation for Mr. Montrez's behaviour you would be able to tell me it right now," Mr. Delmas argued back.

Ulrich was silenced. He could not mention anything about XANA, knowing it would force a return to the past. He felt that all his efforts just unravelled because of his one outburst.

"I may have repressed those memories while I was unconscious," Kieran explained, "Everybody you interviewed said I did similar actions to Ulrich. Those actions were similar to my Dad's, and I can't see myself becoming the monster he is."

Ulrich was surprised not only by Kieran's knowledge, but by almost telling him straight up that he had problems with his father. The fourteen year old brunette did have something he could relate with Kieran. After all, Ulrich had problems with his father too.

"Is your Dad the one that's hurting you?" Ulrich enquired.

"Ulrich, it is not your business to ask Kieran a very personal question. Now in light of these events-" Mr. Delmas declared.

"Don't you dare change the topic on me!" Ulrich barked, fuming that the Principal was going to force him to talk about something else when he was so close to finding out about Kieran's past, "Kieran decides whether he wants to tell me or not. Not you!"

"This is very personal Ulrich. I'm certain that Kieran would not want you to know about his personal life and what is-" Mr. Delmas snapped.

"He has every right to know, Mr. Delmas," Kieran interrupted, stunning the Principal into silence, "But I can't explain it because… I don't know how to say it without breaking into tears. Please Mr. Delmas, explain it to him."

Mr. Delmas was forced to comply with Kieran's orders regarding his personal life, and stood up from his seat. He approached Ulrich until he was right beside him. The Principal then went down on one knee next to Ulrich, staring at Kieran.

"Ulrich, before I tell you this, you must keep this information confidential. This is a very private matter to Kieran; in fact, I am the only one on campus that knows the details about this. Is that clear Ulrich?" Mr. Delmas asked.

"Yes, Mr. Delmas," Ulrich responded.

Mr. Delmas cleared his throat, and explained, "Kieran recently gotten past a very difficult phase of his life. A few years ago, his parents argued vehemently and his father beat him and his mother. After a few more beatings at home, Kieran picked up his father's violent habits and got into many fights with the students at his old school. He was promptly expelled, which forced his mother and him to live separately from his father. As soon as Kieran settled into his new school, his father wanted custody of Kieran, and his parents had to go to court. He's afraid of his mother losing the court battle because he would have to stay with his abusive father. This court case affected Kieran at school greatly. He had to stay down a year level and he skipped the majority of his classes. When he was skipping his classes, he was hanging out with gangs of kids who were older than him, and fought other gangs. One time, he got in trouble with the police. He wasn't punished, but the police put a profile on him and recorded his fingerprints in case he was to commit a crime when he's older. As soon as his mother won the court case, he was expelled from that school. Kieran is hoping to make a new start here, but with the behaviour he's presented today… I'm not sure if he could ever redeem himself."

Ulrich completely sympathised with Kieran. Ulrich had problems with his father, but it was nothing compared to Kieran's. From watching the boy's reaction to the retelling of his horrific story, he could tell that he was clearly traumatized and troubled. He wanted to help this boy become something he would be proud of in the future.

Mr. Delmas' discouraging comment only made Ulrich more determined to support this boy. He had no idea how he could do this with homework and Lyoko to contend with, but he wanted to find a way to balance all these things in his life.

"To be a public disturbance and to almost murder another student, it gives me no choice but to suspend Kieran until the end of the week for his actions," Mr. Delmas declared.

"No, that won't solve anything. What he needs is support from his peers," Ulrich stated.

"Then who would you suggest to support him?" Mr. Delmas asked.

"I will take that job, Mr. Delmas," Ulrich answered.

Kieran perked up and gazed at Ulrich, wondering why he would help him. Though, he felt like he stood a chance at redeeming himself from his past life.

"After he almost drowned you?" Mr. Delmas questioned.

"I've already forgiven him for that," Ulrich reassured.

"Well then, if it's getting Kieran back on track with his education, then I'll allow you to be his buddy until Kieran is settled into this school. How does that sound?" Mr. Delmas enquired.

"That sounds great," Ulrich responded.

"You, Kieran?"

"Of course. I'm so happy that Ulrich's going to help me!" Kieran exclaimed.

"Right, then I'll inform Kieran's mother and make preparations for it," Mr. Delmas concluded.

The Principal stood up and exited the infirmary with his head up high. He was extremely happy he didn't have to put a stop to Kieran's education.

As soon as he exited the infirmary, Kieran jumped out of his seat and hugged Ulrich, wrapping his arms around his stomach. Ulrich grinned, content that Kieran was given a second chance at Kadic Academy and possibly, life. He also felt like he was already making a difference in Kieran's life as well.

Not only that, he truly prevented Jeremie from activating a time revision. XANA wouldn't be getting any stronger, giving him and his friends a chance to weaken XANA.

Kieran soon let go of Ulrich, realising that he was squeezing the area of his body where he was injured. He looked at the small table in between the infirmary beds, and noticed there was a 'Get Well Soon' card on the table. Kieran quickly glanced to see who it was addressed to and faced Ulrich again.

"Hey Ulrich, this card is for you," Kieran mentioned, grabbing the card and presenting it for Ulrich.

"Oh, that's nice. I'll read it then," Ulrich responded, receiving the card from Kieran.

Ulrich opened the card, slightly surprised that the message was longer than just 'get well soon Ulrich'. Intrigued, he read the handwritten card.

_Dear Ulrich,_

_I was so worried when you were almost drowned by that younger child. But I'm so glad you fought for your life, and survived. I hope that while you're recovering, you'll think of me everyday until you are back on your feet. Get well soon._

_From your sweetheart,_

_Sissi._

Ulrich couldn't believe he read that message from a desperate girl. He shut the card and placed it on the bedside table face down so he didn't have to look at it. At least, Sissi's message did confirm for him that life was back to normal… for now.

"Will she ever give up?" Ulrich asked himself in frustration.

Curious, Kieran enquired, "Was it from someone you hate?"

Ulrich smiled and responded, "Yeah. It was."

Without warning, Yolanda entered the infirmary again. The teenage boys paid attention to her as she approached them.

"Ulrich, I just informed Mr. Delmas of your recovery. I recommend that you'd be excused from the rest of today and tomorrow's classes so that you can get enough rest. I also told Jim that you cannot participate in any vigorous activity during P.E. and Pencak Silat classes for two weeks," Yolanda informed.

"That sucks. Is there anything else?" Ulrich questioned.

"Yes. I believe you can walk around the grounds now. Just return to me after your walk," Yolanda added.

Ulrich acknowledged Yolanda, and she proceeded to walk out of the room. But she stopped for a moment, and threw a piece of clothing at Ulrich before leaving.

Ulrich quickly realised it was a t-shirt, considering that he still was shirtless. He put on the dark green t-shirt, which covered up his bandages around his body.

"Let's explore the grounds!" Kieran shouted enthusiastically as he smiled, glad that he had a friend that can show him around Kadic Academy.

* * *

Later, the boys were walking towards the vending machines, where Ulrich wanted to show Kieran where to get a quick drink during recess or lunch. Ulrich found out that Kieran only started as a student of Kadic Academy yesterday, where he was pretty much just following his year level from class to class.

Ulrich was continuing to find out more about Kieran other than his personal life. He found out that Kieran loves to play soccer and practices fighting when he can, although, it wasn't fighting to a martial arts code. In his spare time, he writes stories to help him ignore negative thoughts. Ulrich was surprised that he already had a healthy way to deal with the traumatizing memories.

As Ulrich was about to reveal his technique to dealing with tough situations, he spotted his friends hanging out by the vending machines. Ulrich picked up the pace of his walk slightly, wanting to see his friends. Kieran followed closely behind him, wondering why Ulrich was walking quickly.

The group noticed Ulrich, shocked to see he was already on his feet. But they were grateful that he was recovering quickly and could join them. They also spotted Kieran following him, wondering why he was with him.

"Hey Ulrich. I can't believe you're here with us," Aelita stated.

"Well, my leg wasn't injured, so I'm okay to walk. Just can't do any vigorous exercise for two weeks," Ulrich reassured.

"That's going to be a problem in Pencak Silat," Yumi responded.

"Sometimes I train by myself, you should try, or I could watch you and try to give you pointers."

"Thanks for the idea Ulrich. Hey, isn't that the kid who almost drowned you at the pool?" Yumi asked, pretending to not know the boy's name.

The group gazed at Kieran, who stepped behind Ulrich when all eyes were focused on him. Ulrich moved to the left and placed a hand on his shoulder to assure Kieran that his friends weren't going to hurt him.

"Yeah, but I forgive him. After all, he's a good guy. And I thought it would be best if I look after him until he's settled into Kadic Academy. He's only been here for a day, so he needs all the support he can get. His name is Kieran Montrez, but just call him Kieran," Ulrich introduced his buddy.

"Hi everyone," Kieran said shyly.

The group waved back, understanding that Kieran seemed timid around them. Yumi did feel a little bit guilty making Kieran cower behind Ulrich, but was glad she didn't make the impression that she knew his name.

"Kieran, these are my friends, and hopefully, you'll have a good bunch of them in no time. The Japanese girl is Yumi, the guy with the glasses is Jeremie, my roommate is the scrawny guy, Odd," Ulrich continued.

"Hey! I'm not scrawny! It's _svelte_," Odd retorted.

Kieran chuckled; as he could clearly see that Odd did look incredibly scrawny for a boy his age.

"And the girl with pink hair is Odd's cousin from Canada, Aelita," Ulrich concluded.

Aelita smiled at Kieran, just to make him feel more welcome around the group. Even though he was the same age as Jeremie, being new at the school was quite an intimidating thing to go through.

"Hey Kieran, what grade are you in?" Yumi asked.

"I'm in grade six," Kieran answered.

"That's great. He's in the same grade as my younger brother. If he could be one of Hiroki's friends, he could still stay in contact with you even after he's settled in here," Yumi suggested.

"That's a great idea. I just hope Hiroki doesn't mind a new face," Ulrich responded, "Well, Kieran, it looks like you're in luck, how about-"

Suddenly, Kieran's mobile phone was ringing. He grabbed the phone out of his pocket and pressed a button to answer the call.

"Hello… Hey Mum… I'm fine… Yeah Mum, I'm sorry I got in trouble again," Kieran spoke in response to his mother.

Ulrich was wondering why the boy's mother would be calling him at this time of the day. He remained silent to listen to Kieran's half of the conversation.

"You want to talk to me in person… and Ulrich? …Uh, sure. Where are you? …You're at the front of the school already… Well, Ulrich will show me where it is… Okay Mum, I'll see you ASAP," Kieran chatted, and hung up the phone.

"Looks like we better see your Mum," Ulrich stated.

"Yeah. It's nice seeing you all! I'll see you later!" Kieran shouted.

Kieran and Ulrich walked away from the group, heading in the direction of the front of the school. Kieran went a little bit ahead of Ulrich, feeling a lot more confident and happy after meeting his friends.

Odd watched them as they slowly distanced themselves from the group. He was quite impressed with the kid, expecting him to be more introverted than Ulrich was.

"I have to admit, that kid is really nice," Odd announced.

"Yeah, he should join us for dinner just to chat," Aelita responded.

"Too bad I can't hang out until then. My parents would be worried sick if I didn't return before dinner," Yumi mentioned, sounding disappointed.

"Well then, hopefully Ulrich can get some time off from looking after Kieran so that we can talk about what happened today. And we might even find out why Kieran has a file on police record," Jeremie replied.

"Yeah, I've been wondering about that since we dropped off Ulrich at the infirmary. But anyway we owe Ulrich one, he managed to make a good situation out of a bad one and XANA didn't get stronger," Yumi presumed.

"True. Anyway, class is starting in five minutes. I'll see you guys soon."

* * *

After the final class of the day was over, Jeremie, Odd, Aelita and Yumi immediately travelled to Jeremie's room. They needed to talk about what happened on Lyoko and on Earth during the XANA attack, believing quite strongly that something quite extraordinary occurred.

Jeremie sat in his respective seat before his computer and spun around to face the doorway. Yumi and Aelita sat on Jeremie's bed, with Aelita sitting closer to Jeremie. Odd rested his back on Jeremie's closed wardrobe, opposite of Jeremie's bed.

"Should we begin without Ulrich? I can fill him in on the details later," Odd suggested.

"I suppose so-" Jeremie answered.

Unexpectedly, a familiar brunette hastily entered the room. Everybody stared at the doorway, surprised to see that Ulrich was able to attend the meeting. Ulrich smiled and shut the door behind him, although, he was unsure whether he arrived on time.

"Uh… Did I interrupt anything?" Ulrich asked.

"Not at all," Jeremie reassured.

Ulrich stood to the left of the door, relaxing his back on the wall. He was there just in case Kieran needed him. He focused on Jeremie, waiting for what he wanted to say.

"Well then. Today was a day we found out how determined XANA is to get what he wants. But despite this we thwarted his plans due to teamwork, looking out for each other and using improvisation to our advantage," Jeremie announced.

"Speaking of XANA, what was his attack exactly? I was a little bit confused when you explained it earlier," Odd enquired.

Jeremie sighed and answered, "XANA intends to throw Aelita in the Digital Sea for whatever reason. So, playing on our feelings towards Ulrich, he made sure he was harmed on Lyoko. To do that, he needed to possess somebody we knew and that was vulnerable. He also needed to give that possessed person different powers in order to have us physically hurt on Lyoko. That was Kieran. Between recess and P.E., XANA possessed Kieran and left him isolated to ensure that one of us would spot him. Once Ulrich spotted him and approached Kieran, he'd sprung the trap. Kieran attacked Ulrich against his will, punching him around the ribs. Unbeknownst to Ulrich, Kieran's punches must have 'infected' that area of Ulrich's body. So that when he is transported to Lyoko, any enemy that lands a blow on Ulrich would consequently hurt him on Earth. When we realised this, XANA thought that we would stay behind to protect Ulrich, giving William the opportunity to throw Aelita into the Digital Sea. But we saw through his unorthodox plan and ended deactivating the tower."

"I'm afraid if XANA's attacks become more calculated that we may seriously get hurt from protecting me. Ulrich almost broke his ribcage to prevent William from ambushing us," Aelita quipped.

"Aelita, it's partially my fault for taking more risks than necessary," Ulrich stated.

"But without those risks, XANA would've become stronger," Yumi mentioned.

"Plus you shown us it's possible to defeat William," Odd added.

"I guess there always must be rewards when you risk something," Ulrich mumbled.

"Oh, that reminds me about William. When Ulrich devirtualized him, he did not disappear from Lyoko forever. I believe he's currently… indestructible. He remains under XANA's control on Lyoko until we separate him from his connection with XANA," Jeremie explained.

"So that means we cannot bring William back until we create a program to free him from XANA," Aelita concluded.

"Right," Jeremie confirmed.

"Wait, there may be another way," Ulrich exclaimed.

"What is it?" Odd asked.

"When I returned to the swimming pool, I was able to speak to Kieran. I said something that made him… strong enough to break free of XANA's possession temporally," Ulrich replied.

"What you're trying to say is that just speaking to a person that's possessed by XANA sets them free from him?" Yumi enquired, becoming very fascinated with the conversation.

"It's not as simple as that. It must have triggered something emotional within Kieran, like a very strong memory from his past. I'm thinking the only way to be released from XANA's possession requires an emotional attachment to the person speaking to set off a major event in that person's life. We should try doing that with William so we can save him easily," Ulrich proposed.

"No way. That's not going to work at all," Jeremie argued, "It only worked temporally, and it isn't a permanent solution."

"But it sounds like a wonderful idea. Freeing William without fighting him… that would prevent him from suffering," Aelita retorted.

"Aelita, if we hold back on fighting William we could lose something we've worked for. I want to save William too, but the only way that's going to work is to create a program, not through the power of speech," Jeremie maintained.

Yumi and Aelita were saddened they couldn't put Ulrich's suggestion into action. It was the quickest and probably the easiest way to save William. However, they did understand it wasn't a guaranteed method to rescue William.

"Hey Ulrich, how was Kieran's mother? Is she strict or anything?" Odd asked.

"No. She was perfectly fine to see me looking out for Kieran. She wanted me to make sure he's comfortable and to keep on watching out for him," Ulrich answered.

"Did you find out anything about Kieran? Like why he has a file on the police records and why he was expelled from two schools?" Jeremie questioned.

"Yes," Ulrich responded, but he barred himself from speaking. Bearing in mind what he was told earlier by the principal and Kieran's mother, he vowed not to tell anyone else unless he had Kieran's permission to. He put his hands in his pockets and bit his lips before speaking again.

"But it would be disrespectful to Kieran if I told you without asking him."

"Seriously? That's been bugging me all day. Couldn't you make an exception for your friends here?" Odd pleaded.

"I can't. But I can leave a hint… We share something in common. We have someone we despise, but we are forced to love."

"I don't get it," Odd stated.

"That's the idea, Odd," Ulrich teased.

The group burst into laughter at Odd's expense. Odd shook his head and connected his head with the palm of his hand, feeling incredibly dumb. The laughter soon subsided, as the group noticed that Jeremie had one more thing to say.

"Alright. Now that today's stuff is over, let's focus on the future. In particular, building the submarine," Jeremie declared.

"Well, we already know it's going to be completed in less than two days," Ulrich responded.

"But I'm a little bit paranoid about XANA. I'm afraid he may attack us tomorrow night… so I was wondering if some of you could come and protect me and Aelita just in case it does happen," Jeremie invited.

"I've got nothing better to do tomorrow night, count me in!" Odd shouted.

"My parents would be going out tomorrow night. So I can come along," Yumi stated.

"I will too," Ulrich quipped.

"But Ulrich, you're looking out for Kieran and you need your rest. Odd and Yumi can handle it," Aelita reassured.

"Don't worry about it. I'll supervise Kieran until he's hanging out with a group, then I'll head out to the Factory. If there's no XANA attack, I'll just sleep there," Ulrich answered.

"You have it all figured out, don't you?" Odd enquired.

Ulrich acknowledged Odd, and smiled a little bit, glad that he could manage things in his life. Suddenly, he just remembered something and grabbed the doorknob.

"Sorry guys, I just remembered I have to show Kieran the Rec Room before dinner. I'll see you later," Ulrich said, opening the door.

"Alright, see you at dinner Ulrich," Jeremie responded.

As Ulrich exited Jeremie's room, Yumi stood up from her seat and rushed to the door. She grabbed it just as Ulrich was closing it. Ulrich let go of the doorknob so Yumi could leave the door open.

He looked over Yumi's shoulder, seeing Odd giggling at the sight. He made an annoyed expression at Odd to shut him up for a little while.

"Ulrich, take it easy on yourself. I don't want to see you push yourself more than you need to," Yumi stated.

"I won't Yumi. I've already pushed myself past my limits and almost got myself killed. I won't do that for a while," Ulrich pledged.

"Right. Oh, by the way, Odd may tease us about this XANA attack," Yumi mentioned.

"Why?" Ulrich asked.

"I accidentally revealed too much information to him," Yumi answered.

"Great. Well then, I'll see you tomorrow," Ulrich responded, waving to Yumi.

"See you tomorrow," Yumi replied.

He moved to his left and walked down the corridor, looking around for Kieran. Yumi slowly shut the door, hoping Ulrich would be able to keep his word.

She spun around, seeing Odd snickering. She placed her hands on her hips and frowned, remembering what they discussed earlier.

"Yumi, you are so in love with Ulrich," Odd claimed.

"No I'm not! I was making sure that Ulrich is not going to kill himself," Yumi maintained.

"Yeah, sure Yumi. He's putting his life on the line and looking after a kid your brother's age. Seriously, he's doing a lot for you," Odd taunted.

"It's not for me. He's doing it for himself, and I'm happy he is," Yumi responded.

Ulrich overheard the conversation from outside, pleased that Yumi approves of him looking after Kieran. Ulrich walked away from Jeremie's room, approaching Kieran's room. It wasn't too far from his room, which was perfect for Ulrich.

Kieran exited his room, spotting Ulrich almost immediately. He ran up to Ulrich like he wished to tell him something badly. Ulrich smiled, thrilled to see him looking very excited.

"Right, I've set up my room! Can we go down to the Rec Room now?" Kieran asked, eager for Ulrich's answer.

"Of course. If we're lucky, the foosball table could be free," Ulrich responded.

"Alright! Let's go!" Kieran yelled energetically.

He ran down the hallway, way ahead of Ulrich. Ulrich could only walk as fast as he could to try to catch up, but he didn't feel debilitated from the injury. In fact, he was feeling the same way as Kieran, pumped up and excited just to enjoy himself and have fun. It was almost if he wasn't hurt at all.

At least, for the time being, he could relax and enjoy his life until the next XANA attack. Having a great group of friends and helping a new kid, Ulrich was thankful that he was living an awesome life. And from the XANA attack, he learnt that sometimes, he would have to save himself in order to save another person. However, his spirits were raised and he felt like he was ready for anything. It was time to focus on recovering from a fractured ribcage, and going through high school.

That was the power Ulrich felt from giving a child renewed hope in his life. He looked over at Kieran, who spun around and gave him a wide grin. No longer did Kieran feel like he was being controlled by events circulating around his life. He was finally free from being a powerslave.

**The End**

**Author's Notes**

First of all, I'd love to mention that this fanfiction idea came to me in a dream. I usually don't get ideas in my dreams, but this one was too good to pass up. So it's pretty cool to see it written up. However, I did change quite a few things to make sure this connected with Wreck Room and Skidbladnir.

I also wrote this fic before I published the first chapter onto fanfiction. This was to ensure consistent weekly updates so that my readers can read a new chapter each week and interest is still kept in this fic. I was a bit nervous posting this fic too, as I haven't posted one in over five years on fanfiction. Hopefully my writing isn't too rusty.

The chapter title and even the title of the fanfic, _Powerslave_ are associated with song titles. They relate to the overall storyline quite well too, which is another bonus.

-_Powerslave_ (By Iron Maiden) is the title of my fanfiction as Kieran is a 'slave' to those in power (XANA, his father, Mr. Delmas) and accepts it happens to him because he's not worthy to make his own decisions.

There's also another reference to Iron Maiden here too, which the amount of chapters of the fic. One of their Live Albums was called _Flight 666_, which relates to the number of chapters in this story, which is six. They also have a song called _Number of the Beast_, which you guys should know what it is.

-_Mr. Mysterious _(By Vanessa Amorosi) is the title of Chapter 1, where the group see a mysterious boy who steals their soccer ball. Most especially, Ulrich is mystified by this boy, earning him the title 'Mr. Mysterious'.

-_Going Under _(By Evanesence) is the title of Chapter 2. Kieran's possession is shown as he is _going under_ XANA's control. In particular, the lyrics '_drowning you_' and '_I've got to break through_' describe Ulrich's struggle to reach the surface of the water before he drowns under Kieran's weight.

-_Monster_ (By The Automatic) is the title of Chapter 3. It originally only meant the group are fighting monsters on Lyoko. However, due to Kieran's possession and Ulrich being hurt a lot during the encounter, XANA's plan should be more diabolical to involve Ulrich directly to his plan to throw Aelita into the Digital Sea. Jeremie even describes XANA as 'monstrous'. I was going to change the chapter title to _Head Like a Hole_ (By Nine Inch Nails) due to some of the lyrics describing XANA's diabolical plan, but I stuck with _Monster_ because the lyrics made more sense.

-_Wheels_ (By the Foo Fighters) is the title of Chapter 4. The lyrics '_When you feel like it's all over, there's another round for you_' relate to the three main events of this chapter extremely well. William's defeat, Ulrich's return to Earth and Yumi's plan have another thing to deal with that's threatening or put somebody's life at risk.

-_Heart of Glass_ (By Blondie) is the title of Chapter 5. Kieran's heart is very fragile, and is swayed easily by his peers. Ulrich exposes that by almost setting Kieran free of XANA's possession just by talking to him.

-_Hope_ (By Shaggy) is the title of the final chapter. Ulrich gives Kieran hope that maybe he could finally make some friends by partnering with him. Ulrich also saves Kieran's hopes by convincing the Principal to not suspend him. And there is obviously hope that the group can bring back William without the need of violence or a program, but that was sadly diminished quickly by Jeremie.

The XANA attack in this fic was definitely different from the usual possession, use lightning to kill the Lyoko Warriors etc. To simply put it, XANA possessed Kieran with different powers from the usual, which were no lightning powers so he could gain infected electromagnetic/electrochemical punches. This was to set up that Ulrich was incapacitated on Lyoko so that XANA-William could appear very cocky to defeat him easily. XANA also played on Aelita's empathy, knowing that she'd want to save Ulrich from possibly getting broken bones; therefore, she would remain there and get thrown in the Digital Sea quite easily because Ulrich needed to protect himself as well as Aelita. It was definitely a devious attack, and I hope I could think/dream up more.

One of the few things I've changed was Ulrich defeating William. Originally, I had William defeat Ulrich, but that would be very difficult to write, considering Ulrich had a fractured ribcage and it could easily turn into a broken one. I was also disappointed when the Lyoko Warriors first defeat William in Skidbladnir because XANA didn't get incredibly frustrated that his most powerful weapon against the warriors would lose to them. So, Ulrich defeated William and I had XANA speak through possessed William to express his frustration to lose against a Lyoko Warrior, in particularly, an injured one.

For those who are wondering, Kieran Montrez is the same age as Jeremie, Aelita, Milly and Tamiya but has stayed down a grade. He is quite mature for his age, but loves to relax when he can. I really enjoy writing this original character, and hopefully I can include him in more fics in the future.

Since this takes place between the fourth (Wreck Room) and fifth (Skidbladnir) episodes of season four, it means that the Lyoko gang have not defeated William in combat yet, and have not christened the submarine (that was given during Skidbladnir). It also means I have to connect this story to them in some way so that the transition is pretty smooth. I connected Wreck Room by having the Lyoko Gang train clone William to play a sport so he doesn't have a repeat of his horrible performance in his table tennis match against Jim during Wreck Room. It was easy linking Skidbladnir to this story, as I had Jeremie mention at least two times that their submarine was going to be finished in two days. If anybody's wondering, this story is based one day before the events of Skidbladnir.

Finally, I was reminded by a **Binary10** that the XANA attack is connected to the elusive _swimming pool attack_ Odd keeps on mentioning in the episode Crash Course. So, I added a new scene in this chapter where Odd finds out what happened between Ulrich and Yumi during the attack so it makes sense with the events of Crash Course. Even though the episode Marabounta did have a lot of scenes at the swimming pool, there was no XANA attack at the swimming pool. Thanks Binary!

Wow, and that's it. If you want to hear the songs from the story, ask me via PM and I'll look up some YouTube links for you with high quality audio. Also, I wonder if you guys want Kieran in future fanfics, so I'll put a poll up in my profile so people can answer my question. I hope you guys like my fanfic and I hope to write more Code Lyoko fanfics in the near future.

With that being said, I am writing a new fanfic, but it's going to be a while until you guys see the first chapter since I've only completed two chapters of it and I would rather have most of it completed before I upload it here. So, I hope you guys would look forward to that.


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